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Now that summer has dried out your lawn and the crabgrass is taking over, perhaps it’s a good time to reconsider.

A recent NASA study, reported by fusion.net, estimates the total area of the US devoted to lawns is the size of Texas. Grass is our single largest crop! If you think about the fossil fuels used to cut that grass and the chemicals used to keep it weed-free and fertilized, it’s pretty clear that less lawn would be better for all of us. Oh, and lawns are water hogs, accounting for 50% or more of residential water use. Well, not so much in California anymore…

California has a “cash for grass” program, modeled on a successful Nevada program, that pays homeowners to replace their lawns with native landscaping that doesn’t require watering. One resident was quoted saying, “I was like, ‘Wow, maybe we’re part of the problem.'” Ya think? We’re not just part of the problem. One way or another, we are the problem.

Nothing will stand up to family use like a lawn. But if your lawn, or parts of it, are more decorative, there are better options. Organic Life Magazine offers several in-depth articles on great alternatives that deliver the green of a lawn without the harmful side effects.

I hear many say “2019 was the year when the public woke up to the climate crisis”.
This is a misconception.
A small but rapidly growing number of people have started to wake up to the climate crisis.
This has only just begun. We’re still only scratching the surface.